Nelson's Ship in a Bottle

Yinka Shonibare, May 24, 2010 to January 2012 The first commission by a Black British artist, and the first to talk straight back to Nelson on his column. Shonibare built a 1:30 scale replica of HMS Victory and sealed it in a giant bottle, its sails cut from the patterned wax-print textiles people associate with Africa but whose history runs through Indonesian batik and Dutch trade. Empire, trade and London's own mixed population all fit inside one souvenir object. A public appeal kept it in the country, and it now has a permanent home at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich.